IDC Report: Apple 2nd Place In Smartphones Worldwide

According to a new report from research firm IDC, the worldwide shipment of smartphones has increased almost 80 percent when comparing the first quarter of 2011 with the same quarter in 2010. Vendors have shipped a total of almost 100 million units in Q1 of this year, nearly double from 55 million units in the same quarter last year. And, now Apple sits in second place just behind Nokia on the list of top five smartphone vendors in the world.

Following after Nokia and Apple are RIM, Samsung, and HTC. The percentage growth among the top five smartphone vendors varies greatly. The market shares of both Nokia and RIM have dropped since the previous year, from 39 percent to 24 percent and from 19 percent to 14 percent, respectively.

The numbers indicate that the greatest growth occurred with Android-based smartphones. Both Samsung and HTC showed enormous growth of 350 percent and 230 percent, respectively. Apple’s growth of 114 percent still keeps the iOS platform ahead. But, the Android platform being open, will likely see greater growth and produce more market share fragmentation.

“The rise of Android as a prominent mobile operating system has allowed several suppliers to gain share quickly,” adds Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. “Also, the relatively nascent state of smartphone adoption globally means there is ample room for several suppliers to comfortably co-exist, at least for the short term.”